The Ultimate Sacrifice
by spacejunkie12
Summary: I wrote this shortly after finishing my DA:O game. I was a human noble warrior named Feriah Vie. I romanced Alistair, of course. After the sacrifice scene, I was pretty devastated. I had this knocking about in my brain pan and had to just write it out. It's a very short piece, only two parts. I'm still touching up the second part, so here is the first.


"I should take the final blow, 'tis my duty." Alistair's voice was low, but steady. His eyes rested at my feet. He couldn't look me in the eye.

"But you are King, Alistair. This is my duty, as a Grey Warden. This is what life has destined for me. You have a future ahead of you, as ruler of this land. And you will be a great King." My voice broke as all the dread flooded my tight throat. "The people need you." A single tear escaped and rolled down the side of my face. His fingers appeared immediately to wipe it away, his forehead pressed to mine.

"You are the greatest Grey Warden there ever was. The people need you more now than ever before." My eyes burned as I held back more tears. "I love you more than anything in this world. I cannot let you die if it is within my power to save you."

"But I can't let you die either! It isn't right! I can't let you do this!" I broke away and stormed past him to pick up the sword. His hand caught my arm and held me firmly in place.

"No. I'm not giving you a choice in this. You know I'm right. I would make a terrible King, but you. You can protect these people in the coming days. You are strong, intelligent, and very capable of ending this nightmare." His grip on my arm loosened, and I turned to him. I could no longer hold back the flood of hot tears. He pulled me close and pressed his lips to mine. His warm, soft lips danced fervently with mine. He deepened the kiss, and my heart swelled, almost bursting from my chest. I held him close and squeezed him, not wanting to let go. Our lips finally parted. "I love you, Feriah," he whispered, and he was gone from my grasp. He walked past my paralyzed frame and retrieved the sword from the ground.

I turned to see him. After a slight hesitation, he ran toward the giant beast and slashed its throat. Blood rained down on him and the beast fell limp. Alistair raised the sword above his head and drove it straight down through the dragon's skull. A bright light emanated from the fatal wound. It continued to glow brighter, as bright as the sun, but I refused to look away. I stood firm, wanting to appear strong, but inside I was screaming.

The light burned my eyes, and then everything exploded. A shockwave knocked me and everyone else to the ground. I could feel the heat pass over my skin. When the light dimmed, I looked around frantically. Alistair was gone, there was nothing left of him. My heart shattered and my eyes blurred with more hot tears. I fell back on the ground again and just laid there, looking up at the sky. I could just barely see the stars through the tears and smoke. I felt my mind drift away into darkness, my body went numb, and the cheers and shouts faded into the background.

**********

"_You could have saved him, but you didn't." Morrigan's black piercing eyes burned into mine. "I gave you a way out, for everyone, but you didn't listen. You turned your back on the only chance any of you had, and now Alistair is dead. You can never bring him back." Her voice was like poison, killing me slowly._

"_I didn't know! I didn't know he would be the one to do it. It was my duty to destroy the Archdemon, not his. I don't care about my life. I would have destroyed the beast in a heartbeat, why did he do it?" My head swirled, and I got dizzy. His earnest face, his gold eyes, it seemed to appear and float before me. Then it was gone in a puff of smoke. "No, wait! Come back!" I screamed and screamed. Morrigan continued to hiss accusations and before long that was all I could hear. "You killed him, he will never come back."_

"_No, no, NO!" I thrashed violently, trying to escape the darkness, but I couldn't. Until…_

"Feriah! Feriah, it's ok! Feriah!" I felt cold hands grasp my wrists and hold them down. I opened my eyes to find Wynne standing over me, her face wrinkled with distress. My body relaxed and she released her hold on my arms. "It was just a bad dream," she said softly.

"No, it wasn't." My voice was rough, like gravel. Everything came rushing back in one pronounced blow to my head. I reached up to find a slick forehead. I was drenched with sweat. Wynne held up a cup of water in front of me.

"You are severely dehydrated. Here, drink this." I took the cup from her and drank eagerly. Streams of cold water spilled out of the side out my mouth, then the cold spread internally over my chest. This moment of physical satisfaction was brief. "We thought we had almost lost you there, but you will live. I conjured my best healing spell yet." The corners of her mouth tilted upward into a tentative smile.

"Thank you, dear friend. How long was I out?"

"Oh, not long, a couple of days." She pulled up a chair beside the bed and sat down. "How are you feeling?"

"I feel….I'll be alright." I threw off the covers and attempted to get out of bed, but Wynne stopped me.

"Feriah, you are still weak. You need more rest."

"I've had enough rest. I need to find out what happened after…Where is everyone?" My mind was all over the place, I didn't know what I should do first. Wynne patted my hand, and I remained seated, but upright in bed.

"The darkspawn retreated when the Archdemon fell. Many people were lost, sadly, but we have won. For now." Her voice lowered with her last statement. "Everyone made it, well except for…" I felt a pang twist my heart, and Wynne could see it on my face. "Morrigan left before the battle began, or so I was told. That soulless witch." I could feel the bitterness in her voice, and I couldn't help but feel the same way. "Everyone is currently staying here in the castle. We are still in Denerim. There is to be a grand celebration tomorrow, in your honor of course."

"I have no need for celebration," I spat bitterly. "What is there to celebrate? The darkspawn are still out there, and it won't be long before they come back. We have to start planning for their next attack." This time, I shot out of bed, too quickly for Wynne to stop me.

"Of course there is reason to celebrate! The Archdemon has been defeated. The darkspawn are still out there, yes, but they are weaker now. We have made great strides to be where we are now. Everyone deserves a little rest, and honor for what has been accomplished." I stood silent. "Alistair will be receiving a posthumous honor for his sacrifice. You will be expected to be there to say a few words, and to be a hero, an icon for the people. They need to see you, they need hope."

"I'm no hero. Alistair –," I could hardly bear to say his name. My legs went numb and I collapsed back onto the bed. Wynne sat next to me and wrapped her arm around my shoulders comfortingly.

"What Alistair did was very brave. He loved you very much, I could always see that. He sacrificed himself to save you, to save everyone. Only a warrior with a strong, compassionate soul could do such a thing. You should be proud to have fought beside him, to have had that time with him, as short as it may have been."

"Thank you," I muttered quietly. "I miss him so much. But -," I hesitated. "I could have saved him." I looked down at my hands, ashamed.

"What do you mean, dear?"

"Morrigan. She came to me the night before the battle. She had discovered a ritual in the Grimoire I brought her from Flemeth's. It was a ritual that would have prevented any Grey Warden from dying when the Archdemon was killed. But, the price of the ritual was too high. At the time, I didn't think it was worth it. I thought I would carry the burden of killing the beast, and thus had no desire to go through with this ritual. But now…."

"What was the ritual?" Wynne was clearly alarmed, but remained calm.

"She—She needed a Grey Warden to impregnate her so that the Archdemon would be transferred to her unborn child instead of to any of the living Grey Wardens. She wanted to bed Alistair." I shuttered at the thought of it. Wynne's face also cringed with disgust. "The child, once born, would harbor the ancient dark spirit. She was going to take the baby and leave after the battle, never to be seen or heard from again. She wanted to raise this demon child for her own purposes." I paused for a moment so Wynne could consider everything I had said. "I just couldn't allow that. I was not only refusing to allow her to defile Alistair in such a way, I also didn't want a powerful demon child in her possession. Who knows what she could have done. And, I thought I would be the one to take the final blow. I didn't care if I died, as long as everyone else lived. As long as Alistair lived, and became King."

"Please believe me when I say this," she said as she took my hands in hers and pressed gently. "You absolutely made the right decision. That child would have been an abomination, and you and Alistair would have been aid to it. You would have regretted this decision, perhaps more than you regret your decision to not allow the ritual."

"I didn't even tell Alistair about it. I suppose it would have been his decision as well. Maybe I should have told him and let him decide for himself. Maybe he would be here with me right now…" Wynne grasped me by the shoulders and squared herself in front of me.

"You cannot think like that, Feriah. You know the decision Alistair would have made. He was too pure-hearted to condone such a vile act." She spoke firmly, and I knew she was right. "Now, you should get some rest. I will bring you something to eat shortly. You'll need your strength for tomorrow's celebration." She kissed me on the forehead and left the room, closing the door behind her. Exhaustion suddenly weighed heavy on my body, and I crawled under the covers, slipping into the dreamy darkness once more.


End file.
